Oman, Salalah & Muscat

 We arrived at Salalah, Oman on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 8 a.m.  This is primarily a commercial port so there were buses there to drive us through the port to the entrance gate where local taxi drivers  were waiting to offer us a 20 minute ride to the town of Salalah.  This is not a place where a lot of cruise ships dock and the ship's travel guide was not very enthusiastic about local sites.  There is a frankincense museum because this is one of the few places in the world where it is grown and harvested.  As you can see, they filled the bus to capacity.

 When they dropped us off by the taxi stand, many drivers gathered around to convince the cruise guests to ride with them.  Salalah is about a 20 minute drive from the port and isn't safely walkable so the drivers know you will need their services. We talked to a young fellow and asked him to take us to Taqah, Khor Rori and the Old City Sumhuram.  We negotiated a price and got in his taxi.  We found out part way through the ride that his air conditioning didn't work.  He said it did but we could tell it didn't.  It was warm but okay with the windows down.  In Oman we saw occasional men dressed in black.

 Our 24 year old driver told us that in Oman, men are allowed to have 4 wives.  We asked how many he had.  He said he was too young and wasn't married.

As he drove us through the boulevard, we saw green grass, trees, etc.  They were running sprinklers.  The Sultan has a palace in Salalah, so he keeps things nice.  It is not his primary palace.  We saw his palace compound in the distance.  It looked wonderful but it was too far for good photos.

 Taqah is a little beach town about two miles from Khor Rori.  The beach was beautiful but deserted.  In fact we saw little activity in the whole town.  We don't know if it was too early in the day or what.

 Along the way, we saw a group of camels off to the side of the road.  Our taxi driver pulled off so we could take pictures.  He is wearing the black turban below.

 Above are camels.  Below are the goats.

Above is a group of goats with a goat herder that we saw along the road.  I guess that is what you call someone who cares for goats.  Our driver says that they use camels for milk, meat and work and that there are camels that are wild that run along the beaches.

Sumhuram is an ancient city of ruins near the Khor Rori or river delta that joins the sea.  It is 30 kilometers from Salalah.  We were interested in this area because it is one of two sites near Salalah that some scholars believe could have been the land Bountiful in the Book of Mormon where Nephi could have possibly built his ship.  Sumhuram is built on the hillside just about the river delta.  It dates about 500 years after the time Nephi and his family would have been there.

The other site is north of Salalah and is easily accessible at this time only by boat.  The northern site has been approved for excavation by archaeologists so it will be interesting to follow how that progresses to see if they find definitive evidence.
Nevertheless, we could see how the Khor Rori site could have been a possibility and we were excited to see it.

 In the picture below, see the camel sitting on the sand bar.

 This was a museum telling about the development of Sumhuram and the frankincense trade.

 The frankincense trade was a huge factor in the development of the ancient Sumhuram Old City.

 The remains of these old wooden ships led us to believe that wood was possibly floated down the river from the nearby mountains.  This area is more fertile and green than almost anything we have seen on our journey thus far.  The Arabian Peninsula is truly a desert.  We passed plantations on our way from Salalah to Khor Rori and the mountains aren't too far away.  Our driver lives in that area which is about 25 minutes away.

 There was quite a bit of new construction in the general area between Sumhuram and Salalah.  There were a lot of large homes being built.  Other buildings looked like businesses.

 They are building new multi-lane roads and bridges.  It appears that they are expecting a lot of growth in the future and plan to be ready for it. I believe that they also hope to increase their tourist trade.  This is a place to keep an eye on.

On our way back to the ship, we asked our driver to take us to the souk or markets.  We wanted to purchase some frankincense and Larry wanted to get a turban.

 Our driver stopped and carefully guided us to the vendors that he knew.  We were able to make our purchases quickly and did not take time to browse or compare with other vendors.

 Larry's new scarf was carefully wrapped turban style.  The backpack gives him away, however.

 Shaun and I were pleased with our purchases of frankincense and myrrh.  The myrrh smells very nice.  Heather said the frankincense was good quality.  Since I only paid $5 for a bottle, I wish I had purchased more.

We enjoyed our day in Salalah.  In fact it was one of our highlights.  I wouldn't hesitate to return should the opportunity ever come again.

We had another day at sea after we left Salalah on our way to Muscat.  We arrived in Muscat on the morning of Friday, Nov. 18th.  We were happy that we were out on the deck as the ship cruised into the harbor at Muscat as it was very picturesque with its mountains near the shore, it's fortresses, mosques, and clear blue water.

When we arrived at the port of Muscat, we had to be transported by bus through the commercial port.  However, this time, we were only a few blocks from the souk and the city center so we felt it was walkable and didn't feel the need for a taxi.

The boulevard along the harbor was covered with beautiful mosaic tiles.

 We passed a fish market and saw many people carrying their bags of fresh fish.

We could see our ship docked on the other side of the harbor.

The souk or market area was just opening for the day when we arrived.  Larry was looking for an Arabian dagger and the rest of us were just browsing and taking in the sites.  Spices, jewelry, perfumes, scarves and daggers were big attractions at these markets.

 These men were just sitting around the base of the entrance to the markets.

After we finished browsing at the souk, we walked to the bottom of a fortress fully intending to climb all the way up to the entrance.  However, it was closed for renovation and we weren't allowed to go up the stairs to the actual fortress.  We were disappointed.

At this point in time, Steve and I decided to return to the ship.  I hadn't been feeling well and so we decided our walk back to the ship would be enough for this day.  I wanted to rest up for our arrival in Dubai tomorrow and we felt we had experienced a good bit of Muscat.

 We walked into the fish market on our way back to the ship.  It was really fishy and smelly, but interesting to see.

Here are the taxi drivers gathered around the port gate hoping to get cruisers to hire them.

Back at the ship, I rested in the room and Steve did some exploring of his own.

He loved watching this huge pile of watermelons being unloaded and brought aboard our ship.  We ate a lot of watermelon throughout the cruise.

Steve was very attentive bringing me soup, peppermint tea and jello.  I was feeling very nauseated, achey, congested and I was coughing.  Larry and Shaun continued exploring Muscat.  I have included a few more of their pictures below.